90 Indigenous Organizations Say YES To Action Plan For Survival And Protection Of Life

In recent weeks, Indigenous representatives from 90 organizations in the Amazon region unanimously approved a new action plan that calls for an Amazon-wide "consolidation" for the survival of ancestral knowledge and the protection of forests, water, biodiversity and the climate.
The action plan, titled, "The Manaus Mandate: Indigenous Action for Life" is the end result of the First Regional Amazonian Summit, which took place in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, from August 15-18, 201l.
The four-day Summit, organized by The Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations in the Amazon Basin (COICA), brought together representatives of Indigenous Peoples from all nine Amazonian countries, as well as government representatives, international organizations and members of civil society in the Amazon.

A wide range of issues were explored at the Summit including: the COP 17 meeting, to be held in December 2011 in Durban, South Africa and the Rio Conference 20 +, to be held in June 2012; The adequacy of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the implementation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169; and the joint prioritization of the protection of biodiversity, genetic resources and ancestral knowledge. More